Meditation, mindfulness, consciousness

[David.]

Honestly I'm not sure where they sit. I know one of the techniques of mindfulness is to try and engage the problem solving and curiosity centres of the brain to male people more aware of the tangible effects and become more objective. Like with stress smoking etc..the emotional need outweighs the actual experience so separate the 2 and you have am angle to change behaviour. I've never really got any ground with meditation closest I get is nba 2k on rookie

http://newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/neuroplasticity-–-how-fa-and-om-meditation-can-change-brain

This investigates the differences if I understand correctly. Focused attention vs open meditation.




A blurb from another article

• It is not an attempt to ignore pain.Quite the contrary: it can be a journey into pain, to see what is really there. A core component of mindfulness meditation is single-pointedness, in which we aim to use one sense to focus our attention on one thing. If pain is being experienced, this can be an excellent thing to put our focus on.
  But—and this is very important—we are not putting our focus into reducing the pain. We’re not trying to do anything to the pain; all we’re doing is noticing the sensation with curiosity. Noticing with curiosity: that’s mindfulness meditation in a nutshell.
  Now, it’s true that studies have demonstrated that mindfulness meditation reduces pain, but it’s very important to realize that we don’t meditate with the expectation of reducing pain; we meditate with the intention of developing focused awareness. It is through the focused awareness that we begin to experience the pain differently, not through any attempt to reduce the pain.

 

[Otsego Mar]

Advice for all:

Don't over-complicate things....

 

[Otsego Mar]

 

[David.]

I get my blood pressure and pulse checked a couple times a month by my doctor. Just got my best scores since I started seeing him 6 months ago

 

[David.]

Finished dan harris (NBC anchor) book 10% happier

It goes step by step through a type a, western cultivated personality and the discovery of mindfulness.

I thought it was particularly interesting because it examines the difficulty Integrating this way of living in a western society. You can't just be zen all the time.

Downloaded the app too. It gives more situational guides on how to deal with everyday issues - feelings and thoughts. Facilitates implementation into every day life and makes it more practical and less theoretical.

You also get experts practitioners to answer any questions and get feedback from

 

[David.]

Essentially what we're doing is quieting down the default mode network which is a system of parts of the brain that are utilized when we think certain thoughts. Studies show we are less happy when utilizing this network.

https://www.themeditationblog.com/the-brains-default-mode-network-what-does-it-mean-to-us/


Graph included illustrates different activities and self reported happiness.

Further to the right,. Higher reported happiness.

If ya wanna get creative find ways to keep the dmn disengaged and to release cortisol to be at most at ease and fulfilled.

 

[MirORich]

Great thread.

I’ve been slowly getting into both yoga and mindfulness/meditation and for me it’s almost the opposite,

Meaning my natural state has always been highly relaxex/non stressful/non competitive

Which of course is great and I’m grateful for it. But....it’s also led to long portions of my life being still and with very what feels like very little ability to act on what I perceive as my motivations/desires/goals

What meditation and mindfulness has helped me with is just tuning out distractions and baseline noise so that I hear myself and hear the things that I want to experience more clearly and in a way that makes me feel present and ready to make actual effort.

I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s very cool to hear all the different ways it can help people.

So here’s to continued positive experience for everyone and the first time that meditation fails to calm or clear or stabilize, don’t turn your back on it, get discouraged, or fell like the spell’s been broken. Keep going with it.

 

[TyGuy]

It looks like Kevin Love could use some mindfulness and meditation.

 

[David.]

Great thread.

I’ve been slowly getting into both yoga and mindfulness/meditation and for me it’s almost the opposite,

Meaning my natural state has always been highly relaxex/non stressful/non competitive

Which of course is great and I’m grateful for it. But....it’s also led to long portions of my life being still and with very what feels like very little ability to act on what I perceive as my motivations/desires/goals

What meditation and mindfulness has helped me with is just tuning out distractions and baseline noise so that I hear myself and hear the things that I want to experience more clearly and in a way that makes me feel present and ready to make actual effort.

I don’t know if that makes sense, but it’s very cool to hear all the different ways it can help people.

So here’s to continued positive experience for everyone and the first time that meditation fails to calm or clear or stabilize, don’t turn your back on it, get discouraged, or fell like the spell’s been broken. Keep going with it.

Can you tell me more about yoga? Benefits and your experience with it? I'm gonna try it out.

Also

It looks like Kevin Love could use some mindfulness and meditation.

God him and Jr. Everyone with a monkey mind. You can just see it everywhere and in so many people
I figured you had a personality with low neuroticism from how you post. Positive dude.

 

[TyGuy]

Can you tell me more about yoga? Benefits and your experience with it? I'm gonna try it out.

Also

God him and Jr. Everyone with a monkey mind. You can just see it everywhere and in so many people
I figured you had a personality with low neuroticism from how you post. Positive dude.

I don't think Anxiety shows up in posting behavior much. Not as much as say anger does.

 

[David.]

I don't think Anxiety shows up in posting behavior much. Not as much as say anger does.

Anxiety is within neuroticism, which is also tied to criticism. Positivity is negatively correlated with neuroticism

 

[MirORich]

Can you tell me more about yoga? Benefits and your experience with it? I'm gonna try it

It’s still pretty new to me and I’ve sorted shortcutted by getting private instruction/lessons from a friend rather than going to larger classes.

So far here’s how it’s working for me:
-less back pain than usual
-almost always feel good immediately afterwards
-I’m pretty tight overall and it takes me a lot of drinks or being around very trusted long time friends to dance. After about 2-3 yoga practices, I noticed my hips were way more open and moving/less inhibited than normal lol
-I don’t workout or exercise much, so in terms of light core work and stretching it’s providing me work on that I wasn’t getting otherwise
-has some overlapping principles with meditation in terms of breathing, staying present, and mindful of what you’re doing in the moment

That said, I know there are tons of variations and types of yoga. So you can seek out the balance you’re looking for whether that’s more intense core work and deep stretching or more relaxed stretching and breathing. I’m sure there’s people on here who have more experience with it than me that can shed long one their experience with it.

 

[Kouki]

I think I posted earlier in this topic that I was gonna start meditating as per psych suggestion. Well I started last Thursday, twice a day, ten minute sessions each. Missed a couple over weekend.

I've been doing "progressive relaxation" again as per psych recommendation for anxiety. Basically you focus on your breath and tighten muscles through the body, then relax on the exhale and focus on difference between the tension and relaxation.

Morning sessions tend to be more difficult since I'm thinking about the upcoming day. Last night I did about a half hour though until my wife snapped me out of it calling for the dog. I did two videos and then just did my own thing. I think I really like doing my own thing because you don't have to worry about syncing your breath to the video. I'm kind of coming up with a strategy where it's tension, deep breath, exhale and release tension, followed by two deep breaths focusing on the relaxation before moving to the next body part.

When I really am in the zone I really enjoy it, once your mind is only focused on your body you can really "feel" your tension melting out of the body, and obtaining a really heavy/relaxed bodily feeling.

I don't know that it's made such a difference in my day to day but I'm only on day 6.

I wonder if there is anything better specifically for anxiety, since what I'm doing is kind of body focused as opposed to mind focused. But certainly there is some overlap in terms of mindfulness. Def need to do more research.

 

[David.]

I think I posted earlier in this topic that I was gonna start meditating as per psych suggestion. Well I started last Thursday, twice a day, ten minute sessions each. Missed a couple over weekend.

I've been doing "progressive relaxation" again as per psych recommendation for anxiety. Basically you focus on your breath and tighten muscles through the body, then relax on the exhale and focus on difference between the tension and relaxation.

Morning sessions tend to be more difficult since I'm thinking about the upcoming day. Last night I did about a half hour though until my wife snapped me out of it calling for the dog. I did two videos and then just did my own thing. I think I really like doing my own thing because you don't have to worry about syncing your breath to the video. I'm kind of coming up with a strategy where it's tension, deep breath, exhale and release tension, followed by two deep breaths focusing on the relaxation before moving to the next body part.

When I really am in the zone I really enjoy it, once your mind is only focused on your body you can really "feel" your tension melting out of the body, and obtaining a really heavy/relaxed bodily feeling.

I don't know that it's made such a difference in my day to day but I'm only on day 6.

I wonder if there is anything better specifically for anxiety, since what I'm doing is kind of body focused as opposed to mind focused. But certainly there is some overlap in terms of mindfulness. Def need to do more research.

Your body and mind intermingle. Relaxing your body should relax your mind a bit.

Try "noting".

When you have a feelimg or a thought, note it. "Ah i feel anxious." It stops that thought in its place and disconnects you from it a bit.that one really works well for me.


Meditation and mindfulness are separate phenomenon. Mindfulness is a meta awareness that you carry with you all day long. Meditation is a focused form of that.

Meditation will strengthen your brain and facilitate "trait changes" consequently.. Reducing size of amygdala etc. Stressful events will become less stressful. Practitioners still feel experiencs just as much as non practitioners But they feel them for shorter amounts of time.think of a drop of water falling into a puddle.. Both people will have the drop fall.. The ripple is much larger for the non practitioner.

But thisb isn't enlightenment and it isn't meta awareness or mindfulness.

Your mind wanders all day long. Intermittently remind yourself that you're thinking or feeling throughout the day. Mind wandering is psychosis.. You'll end up traveling light years without moving a foot and you could run way off course. This helps prevent that.

If something big happens (stressor) remind yourself to be present. Anything Thad ever happened to you happened "now". Not tomorrow or yesterday. So live right now. Not all thinking or planning is bad. It's necessary. But remind yourself to ask yourself whether or not your thoughts are productive and if not, bring yourself back to the moment. Look around and just notice things around you. Admire its transcendence. Go through your sensations and recognize them all. Bring your mind back to the moment.

If you are anxious, aknowledge it. Accept it. Explore what that thought or feeling is and how it's manifesting. And then un identity with it. "This is just a thought. It doesn't mean it's true." "This is a feeling. It's transitory. I have those and then they go away". If you are super stressed, go through all of that, and you may consider bringing yourself back to recognizing your breath and sensations. When you do that, you aren't escalsting your anxiety or stress because you aren't thinking about it. (Thks is RAIN.. Recognize, Accept, Investigate, Non identification)

Mind and body are connected. By relaxing your body it relaxes your mind. Breathing out is your body's way of regulating stress and anxiety. Breath in two counts then hold for two and breath out for four.. See what that does for you. Explore it and how your mind and body interact